Publications

In its much anticipated decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft on January 15, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutional authority of Congress to extend the term of future and currently existing copyrights. Article I, Section 8, clause 8 of the Constitution provides that “Congress shall have Power . . . To promote the Progress of Science . . . by securing for limited Times to Authors . . . the exclusive Right to their . . . Writings.” In the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (“1998 Act”), Congress extended copyright protection for most works from fifty to seventy years after the author’s death. The Court held in Eldred that Congress’s extension of the copyright term was a reasonable exercise of Congressional authority and that this extension did not conflict with the freedom of expression guar-anteed under the First Amendment of the Constitution.